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To Altria Pieces,
Fall Task of Growth

Rising Shares Now Reflect
Benefits of the Breakup;
Should Tobacco Arm Split?

Updated July 8, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

Does the Marlboro man have some life left in him? Altria Group, owner of the cigarette maker, saw its shares surge 5% this past week after resolving its latest lawsuit. Now shares in the food, tobacco and beer conglomerate trade near their breakup value. While there's still some benefit to financial engineering, future Altria returns now depend on the individual parts getting their acts together.

It's been clear for some time that Altria would split into its component pieces once it vanquished a suite of lawsuits. Altria...